MEDIA ADVISORY
Contact: Sam Fettig
(c) 612-741-0662
sam.fettig@mnnurses.org
Lauren Nielsen
(c) 651-376-9709
lauren.nielsen@mnnurses.org
(St. Paul) – March 3, 2023 – On Monday, March 6, 2023, nurses with the Minnesota Nurses Association will share the results of a new survey analyzing why more than 2,400 MNA nurses left bedside care positions last year. In addition to the results of the survey, based on responses from nearly 500 nurses, nurses will also share their own stories about why they left bedside care.
The new report – “Why We Left: 2023 Nursing Workforce Report” – follows a similar survey conducted and published last year by MNA. The survey focuses on why nurses left their nursing job, what they are doing now, and what would need to change to bring nurses back to the bedside in Minnesota.
The new report comes as Minnesota nurses are pushing to solve the crisis of short-staffing, retention, and patient care in Minnesota hospitals with the Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act. This bill would establish committees at Minnesota hospitals to set safe staffing levels, including a limit on the number of patients that any one nurse should safely care for to ensure patients receive the care they expect and deserve.
- WHEN: Monday, March 6, 1:15 p.m.
- WHERE: Minnesota State Capitol, Conference Room 316 (Third Floor)
- WHO: Nurses with the Minnesota Nurses Association
- WHAT: Report release and roundtable discussion on why nurses are leaving the bedside
- WHY: Because nurses and patients need action to solve the understaffing and retention crisis
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Health care insurances & hospitals need to rethink how the institutions are structured and what causes an employee to be satisfied in their job. Understaffing creates angst and dismay. Without increased support more nurses will not stay. Encouragement and unbiased attitudes will help new nurses stay in the field. We need nurses.
Good luck, but dealing with hospital administrators never mind corporate big wigs is no easy task. I’ve personally found holding their feet to the fire, using their own words and phrases against them and humiliating them in public are all good starting points if you want to force them to change a real world problem to a real world solution. There is a huge chasm between administrator types and the real world that is nearly impossible to be breached. Hoping you can accomplish something but thinking it’s nearly an impossible task.
Sincerely The old Northwoods RN
1. Most companies have replaced separate sick time and vacation time with PTO. In health this hasn’t happened. If a nurse or nursing assistant has Covid they are required to use vacation time before sick time, even at Mayo. Conversely, 3M set up a separate Covid fund because Covid could be easily proved.
2. After Covid I went back to work as a CNA. However, our scheduler is not allowed to schedule adequate staff in the memory care/speciality care unit in our facility. The facility management justifies unfair, unsafe scheduling by adding low assistance living resident numbers with the high memory care number and announcing they have the legal number of staff for the entire facility. I love caring for my great-grand parents but will be leaving the profession.
— We are required to stay at work if someone does not show up for their shift. I understand this policy because I care about residents. I have volunteered to stay overnight during blizzards to ensure we have staff the next morning. Instead of being thanked for my care and commitment, I have been written up for requesting improved scheduling.
It’s concerning to hear that over 2,400 MNA nurses left their bedside care positions last year. I’m curious to know what the main reasons were for their departure and what changes they believe are necessary to bring nurses back. It’s important to listen to the experiences of healthcare workers and take their feedback into consideration to improve the overall healthcare system. Thank you for sharing this report and shedding light on this issue.